Saturday, January 9, 2010

The day before Christmas, I decided that I wanted to bake bread for my girls to have with our many bean soup. I used a recipe from Bette Hagman which I had liked pretty well, but my daughter hadn't eaten it very well when I baked it a year or so ago. It's called "Flaxseed Bean Bread." It uses "four flour bean mix." Instead of the "four flour bean mix," I decided to simply use oat and brown rice flour, and a little bit of potato starch to help lighten the loaf. It was a hit! The girls ate oodles of it! It was light and airy, moist, and had a nice flavor. My husband liked it as much or better than homemade wheat bread, he said! I enjoyed it too.

For best results, let flour stand out several hours ahead to room temperature(I didn't do this, and it still worked great, but technically yeast works best when everything is warm).

Mix flaxmeal and 1/3 cup cool water. Let stand 5-10 min while working on rest of recipe. Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Warm water to about 110 degrees(use thermometer, or test by hand- stick a finger in it, liquid should be warm-hot but not enough to burn your finger (if it's steaming, don't do so, it will burn!)

Add liquids(flaxmeal, honey, vinegar if using, and 1 c. warm water). You do not add all 1 1/2 cups water, add 1 cup water, then mix in dry ingredients, and add enough water, if needed, to make a cake batter-like consistency. (I wasn't sure exactly how thin, mine was like a thick cake batter, yet thinner than muffin batter I think, and it turned out well). It is definitely supposed to be much thinner than wheat yeast bread dough.

Good luck! Gluten-free bread batter looks and acts differently from wheat bread dough, so have patience! Try it several times, and you'll get the hang of it. If it doesn't turn out one time, try to learn from it, and make your bread into crumbs for meatloaf, or dry and season into croutons... I hope to make a post for troubleshooting- hints for gluten-free bread making and possibilities for what may have happened if your bread didn't turn out right. I've come across lots of good info, I just need to take time to put it together and post it! : ) Meanwhile, I think a lot of the hints I've seen are from Bette Hagman's "Gluten-Free Gourmet Bakes "Bread." Check it out from your library! She has lots of recipes for healthy gluten-free, homemade yeast breads.